Sunday, March 9, 2014

{12 months}

It's official. My baby's not a baby anymore! {yes she is!} As the doctor said at our 12 month check-up: You kept her alive for a whole year! Yes, yes we did. :) It has gone by SO incredibly fast, I just can't believe it. But the past year has been so much fun! I may have gone a little overboard with the amount of photo projects for her first year, but when I sat down to put them all together for her party, I was so happy that I took the time to do them. I now have a set of 12 monthly photos with the chalkboard like the one above {which hang in the frame that I used for my pregnancy weekly pictures in her room}, I have a set of 12 monthly photos with stats on them like the one below {which hung along with each of the monthly onesies as decoration at her party}, I have a photo book with each of her weekly photos {and a corresponding craft project with the fabric}, and I have a baby book that I've done a pretty darn good job of keeping up on if I may say so myself.

Clearly I'm a sucker for memories, and as I was printing off all the pictures, and looking through it all, I was feeling quite proud of myself for one, that I managed to stick with all these projects for a full year, but more than that I was feeling so thankful that I have all of these memories to look back on. I have my own mother to thank for this inherent need to document things...she can tell you exactly when I took my first steps, said my first words, she has books upon books full of photos and mementos, tons of wonderful memories for me to look back on. And now we look back and compare them to Lilly, which is a whole new level of fun. :) I hope I can keep up the trend and document her childhood for her as well as my mom did for me. If nothing else, I know I'll have a bazillion photos to show her. That's what you get for being a photographer's child. :)

Stats ~ 21lbs 2oz (50th percentile)

29 3/4" tall (70th percentile)

She is slimming down...looks like she will be tall and slender. :)

Size ~ 9-12 month onesies and jammies still fit, otherwise wearing 12 or 12-18 months. Pants have to be 12 months or they turn into capris - she has long legs like her mommy. :)

Sleeping ~ about the same here...bedtime between 7 & 8, and she usually sleeps solid until around 5am. Teething and a few sick days have thrown that off a bit, but otherwise that's the norm. After she eats at 5ish, she goes back to sleep usually until 7ish, sometimes 8 if we're lucky on the weekends. She is just not much of a napper, on average she takes 2 naps a day for around 30 minutes each. On the weekends we can sometimes get longer naps out of her, but that's because Daddy often naps with her. Tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. :)Eating ~ she is still a great eater, and still loves her milk. We're working on moving to 3 full meals a day of real food, and I'm letting her dictate when she's ready to wean from breastfeeding - which by my guess isn't going to be any time soon. We are going to work on ditching the bottles during the day, but will probably just switch to milk in a sippy cup to start, and when she's ready we'll ditch them all together (meaning I will get to ditch pumping at work - oh happy day!). Honestly when I was pregnant and we first started breastfeeding I thought we would be lucky to make it a full year. I had no intentions of breastfeeding longer than a year, but hoped we could make it that long. Now, I'm thrilled that we've made it this far, and would be happy for her to nurse for another year if she wants! The more I've learned about breastfeeding and about the benefits of breastmilk, the more thankful I am that she loves it so much. :) Plus, as she gets older and is less interested in snuggles, that is one time I still get to cuddle her. It's a win win!Likes ~ books, giving kisses "dancing" (aka bouncing up and down, shaking her booty), pushing buttons of any kind (remotes, cell phones, toys, if it has a button she wants to push it!), standing on her own and cruising (she has taken steps, but isn't fully walking just yet), eating, shaking her finger at dogs, trying to pet the cats, blowing raspberries (every time she hears a sneeze or a noise that sounds like someone blowing a raspberry, she has to imitate - it is the cutest thing ever.)Dislikes ~ laying on her back, especially on the changing table, the carseat (but only in the evening hours - I don't get it)Current Nicknames ~ boog, boogie, Moe, Lilly bean, Lilly pie, Lills

We had her birthday party this weekend...oh what fun it was. I am totally THAT MOM, and planned a big party and put way too much effort into it, but it was a great time, and I loved all the little details so I have no regrets. She was an ANGEL during the party, I couldn't believe it. She had a tiny morning nap in the car that day, and nothing else, plus she has a tooth (maybe 2) coming in, so I was just sure she would be a monster the whole time. I was so wrong! She was a total ham, and seemed to love all the attention she got. I kept reading about how babies often get freaked out at first birthday parties because of all the people and attention, but not this girl. She ate it up. She had a blast opening presents, and she tore up the smash cake I made her like it was her job. It was her first time having that much sugar so I figured she'd be bouncing off the walls until at least 3am, but she actually went to bed perfectly and slept all night. This kid, she amazes me! Here are a couple pictures from my phone from her party...I will share a bunch more when I have them back. (yep, I had a photographer friend come take pictures for us - what, did you expect anything less?!?)